Vocational guidance is intended for schoolchildren and adults, for those who are still to decide on their future profession, as well as those who are looking for work or seeking a new career.

6.1.1. Vocational guidance for schoolchildren

Vocational guidance for schoolchildren is conducted by ESS careers advisers, in collaboration with school careers advisers. In 2001 the ESS funded psychological tests of abilities for the entire seventh-grade population, and its advisers conducted team advisory sessions in primary schools for 22,985 eighth-grade pupils (before they make a decision on their future education or occupation). Careers advisers also gave lectures to parents of seventh-graders (278 lectures), to eighth-graders (79 lectures) and secondary-school pupils (19 lectures), mostly about the labour market and the factors affecting career development.

Most of the ESS careers advisers' time was spent on giving one-to-one advice sessions. In 2001 they advised 9,535 young people (58% girls, 42% boys); 46% of them were primary-school children, 40% secondary-school pupils and 14% students. Advisers have noticed that, as a rule, these advice sessions are attended by young people who find it difficult to choose a profession. Moreover, an increasing number of young people are coming to obtain information on occupations and training. Since there is an increasing amount of written information available as the ESS and in VIGCs (Vocational Information and Guidance Centres), young people come in order to clarify certain questions. In 2001 this type of information was sought by 19,636 young people.

Careers advisers work with adults who need advice and information regarding their career path. Most are unemployed people who have difficulties in formulating their employment plans and who were given a referral by their job adviser. As many as 88% of all who came for an advice session in 2001 were adults.

Psychologists held 13,588 one-to-one sessions with unemployed people, 7,341 of whom were under the age of 26 (62%). This is important because it is mainly these people who decide to join various forms of additional training, to complete studies started in the past, or to change their current profession. As a rule, vocational advisers work together with job advisers when working with those who join Programme 5000.

In addition to the unemployed, careers advisers are also contacted by people not registered with the ESS, as well as by people still in employment (around 8% in 2000). They seek advice in connection with continuing education, changing their professional career, and so on. For many of them this is a way of avoiding open unemployment, or at least of being better prepared for the transition into open unemployment.

People who drop out of school during the academic year are treated as a special adult category. In 2001, 337 such dropouts responded to invitations to come for an advice session.

The number of one-to-one sessions with adults has exceeded that of one-to-one sessions with young people. In addition to careers advice, advisers also provide information on a one-to-one basis. In 2001, 12,056 adults came for an information session.

Table XV: Number of one-to-one sessions with schoolchildren and adults, 2001

6.1.3. Vocational Information and Counselling Centre (VICC)

A large proportion of vocational information and advisory work is conducted by VIGCs (Vocational Information and Guidance Centres).

VIGCs are intended for young people making their first decision on their future occupation, for adults (unemployed and those in employment) changing their professional career, seeking new employment, wishing to continue their education or needing information on possibilities for financial assistance, and for vocational and job advisers who need information in order to improve their work results.

VIGCs provide information in a variety of forms: in written form on the internet and through a variety of video presentations. The information is provided with the assistance of various institutions, which include the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, the Institute for Education and Sport, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Chamber of Trades, the Adult Education Centre, both universities, and schools.

The number of visitors is constantly increasing. In 2001 the VIGC recorded 33,785 visitors and 7,660 telephone calls. Primary-school children make their first visit to the centre in an organised group. The same applies to secondary-school pupils, particularly before dates set for enrolment. The Centre organises seminars for students at the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Social Sciences on the role of the ESS, vocational guidance, and the VIGC as a tool for assistance in seeking employment. The number of unemployed adults seeking information on employment opportunities from the VIGC is also on the increase.

VIGCs and the VIGC information points network

In 2001 there were two VIGCs, one in Ljubljana and one in Maribor, and five VIGC information points (in Ribnica, Brežice, Celje, Žalec and Kočevje). Just before the end of the year another VIGC information point opened in Slovenska Bistrica. In small towns the involvement of local partners that contribute funds towards the opening of such points plays a crucial role.

National Vocational Information and Guidance Centre (NVIGC)

In 1999 the ESS became a member of the EU National Resource Centre for Vocational Guidance (NRCVG). In 2001 the ESS extended its contract for cooperation in the network.
Membership of this network provides for easy access to information on the possibilities for professional training and study in countries that are members of the network, participation in various European projects, and monitoring of the vocational guidance situation in those parts of the world covered by the network. At the same time it supplies the network with corresponding information about Slovenia.

In 2001 the ESS attended all regular sessions of the NRCVG network. The ESS organised a seminar entitled European Mobility; the invited parties included Austrian and Italian representatives, who described their models of vocational guidance and the opportunities for Slovenian citizens to study in these countries. In 2001 the NVIGC received delegations from various institutions and representatives of foreign countries (Great Britain, Macedonia, Yugoslavia, Ireland, Austria).

In 1996 a start was made, as part of the Leonardo da Vinci programme, on a three-year pilot project entitled ESTIA. Its aim was to increase mobility within Europe through the following instruments:

• greater access to up-to-date information on education, occupations and the labour market;
  
• better links between job advisers and other vocational guidance experts;
  
• better training for job advisers and other experts on the use of computer tools in advisory work.
  

The website address is www.estia.educ.goteborg.se. The NVIGC is responsible for the accuracy of the data on Slovenia's page.

VIGC library

The VIGC library currently stocks:

• descriptions of occupations of various levels of difficulty and from various fields;
  
• information on available courses and training at all secondary schools, higher professional colleges and universities, both in regular and part-time education, postgraduate studies, and all current school vacancies;
  
• information on accommodation in student dormitories;
  
• information on additional education and training opportunities, and adult education vacancies;
  
• information on various forms of financial assistance, from national, Zois and company scholarships to loans, funds and foundations;
  
• other tools and instructions on how to seek employment, computer programmes for designing one's own study path, and videotapes on groups of professions, individual professions and on seeking employment, individual schools, etc.;
  
• other resources relating to education, employment, jobseeking, legislation and regulation governing the area;
• over 100 video presentations on various topics.
  
  

6. 2.

SCHOLARSHIPS

The Slovenian scholarship system encompasses:

1. company scholarships announced and granted by organisations, and scholarships granted by various foundations and funds;
2. national scholarships for apprentices, secondary-school and university students who would otherwise be unable to study for financial reasons;
3. Zois scholarships for highly gifted students that are intended to raise the educational level of the most capable young people.

Figure 25: Scholarships in Slovenia, by academic year, 1986/87-2001/02

6.2.1. Company scholarships

Company scholarships are granted by organisations and employers in line with their staff requirements. The company scholarships policy is completely left to them to determine. The Act only regulates the minimum scholarship amount, which for secondary-school students may not be less than 20% and for university students not less than 30% of the guaranteed wage, minus tax and contributions. Pursuant to the Act, the ESS issues a special publication every year containing a joint public tender for company scholarships. For the 2000/01 academic year, 2,096 new company scholarships were offered; the government and several ministries offered 395 company scholarships; and the remaining 1,701 company scholarships were offered by 309 organisations and employers.

According to the figures supplied by the Statistical Office, in the 2000/01 academic year a total of 7,598 students were receiving company scholarships (2,844 secondary-school pupils and 4,754 students).

6.2.2. National scholarships

Pursuant to the Act and the Rules on Scholarships, the granting of scholarships is a composite part of ESS activities. The system of uniform scholarship provision has been maintained and developed for 25 years. The main objective is to improve the educational structure of low-income groups who would otherwise be unable to achieve an adequate education, and thus to enhance their employability. The following may apply for national scholarships: apprentices; secondary-school pupils and students from families whose gross income per family member over the whole year in 2000 did not exceed 130% of the guaranteed wage for the same period.

By the end of the public tender, i.e. the end of 2001, the ESS had received 62,055 applications for national scholarships; of these, 43,175 applications were from apprentices and secondary-school pupils and 18,880 from university students. The conditions were met by 40,773 people, or 65.7% of applicants (65.4% of applicants in the 2000/01 academic year). Data for December 2001 shows that the ESS was paying national scholarship to 29,029 students (558 of them apprentices in the dual system of vocational training) and 11,744 to university students, of whom 805 were mature students.

Under the provisions of the Rules, entitlements to scholarships are calculated on the basis of the family income, the location of study or residence during study, the year of study, and study results. The basic national scholarship for secondary-school pupils is therefore 14% of the guaranteed wage (SIT 6,485 at the time the scholarships were granted) and for university students 21% (SIT 9,727). With all rises and allowances included, secondary-school pupils and apprentices received an average of SIT 25,006 per month (university students SIT 32,801 per month).

6.2.3. Zois scholarships for gifted students in 2001

Objectives and procedures for awarding Zois scholarships

The aim of Zois scholarships is to encourage the most capable young people to opt for more demanding or longer studies, in line with their interests and the society's need for highly qualified professionals. With the help of its advisers/psychologists, the ESS takes care of all activities in connection with the awarding of Zois scholarships. Zois scholarships are awarded on the basis of a public tender published by the ESS in May (i.e. at the same time as the tender for national scholarships). Applications may be submitted by children in their last year of primary school, apprentices, secondary-school pupils, higher and high professional college school students, and university students. Recommendations may also be put forward by ESS advisers/psychologists. They determine, in line with the Rules on Scholarships, whether the candidates meet the conditions and criteria for being awarded a Zois scholarship for their intellectual and artistic potentials.

Number of Zois scholarships in the 2001/2002 academic year

For the 2001/02 academic year the ESS received 3,004 new applications for Zois scholarships (3,660 in 2000/01); of these, 1,553 secondary-school pupils and 198 students (giving a total of 1,751, or 58% of all applicants) were granted the scholarship (in 2000/01 there were 1,775 new scholarships granted). In December 2001 the total number of scholarship recipients was 12,191, of whom 6,094 were secondary-school pupils and 6,097 university students. In the 2001/02 academic year there were, for the first time, more students than secondary-school pupils. The reason for the increase in the number of students is that more scholarship recipients started their first year of undergraduate studies than became employed.

The trend of growing enrolment in postgraduate studies continued. A total of 348 Zois scholarship recipients were undertaking postgraduate studies in 2001 (compared to 296 in 2000 and 235 in 1999) - a 17% increase on the year before.

In 2001 the ESS prepared a project entitled e-Exchange of Zois Scholarship Recipients (Zois e-Exchange), which will replace current presentations of Zois graduates on the internet and will open up even wider opportunities for cooperation between Zois scholarship recipients and employers. Those employers who will become members of Zois e-Exchange will also be able to use it to present their own activities and to advertise their demand for Zois graduates. Zois e-Exchange is a virtual site where Zois scholarship recipients can get in touch with employers in order to find opportunities for cooperation even during study. Commencement of operation of Zois e-Exchange is planned for March 2002 on the ESS website.

A student loan is a form of state assistance for subsidising the real interest rate of loans to students to cover maintenance and study costs. It is provided pursuant to Articles 58a and 59 of the Act and the Rules on Student Loans (Ur. l. RS, no. 61/99, 87/99, 78/2000).

A loan is granted to a student on the basis of a contract between the student, the ESS and a bank holding a concession awarded by the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs. Loan applications may be submitted by citizens of Slovenia who are not employed and are not over 26 at the time of enrolment in the first year of higher or university studies (unless they are taking part in Programme 5000, the education programme for unemployed people). The age of an applicant making a first application for a student loan can be higher, depending on the year of study and the study course they are taking.

A person already receiving a company scholarship, national scholarship or other form of study assistance under valid regulations, a person who has obtained financial or other student assistance from public or private sources to the equivalent of at least one annual basic national scholarship, or an unemployed person receiving a scholarship or financial assistance while taking part in an active employment policy measure is not entitled to a student loan.